Students majoring in engineering in non-maritime universities, especially those from the countryside in the central and western regions, will be allowed to apply for the post of sailor, an official with the Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) said on Wednesday.

Relevant measures will be drafted and are scheduled to come out within the year, said Li Zhonghua, director of the seafaring department with the MSA, at an international forum themed as "quality sailors".

About 150 graduates will be admitted in the first year of the expansion, and they will be able to work on the dock after one year of professional training.

This is the second major measure China has taken to expand the number of sailors. Initially, China's sailors on commercial ships were mainly retired seamen. Then, the nation gradually set up more than 20 colleges and universities to specially train sailors in line with soaring demand.

"The latest move of the MSA will help to make up for the increasing shortage of senior sailors globally, as well as promote poverty reduction in the inland areas," said MSA Executive Vice-Director Liu Gongchen at the forum.

According to figures released by authoritative institutions, the demand for senior sailors across the world amounts to 476,000 at present, and the supply is 10,000 short. It is predicted that the gap will expand to 13,000 seafarers in 2010 and to 27,000 seafarers in 2015. China itself will soon lack senior sailors with the soaring shipping industry, although domestic demand can be basically met at present, Liu said.

Moreover, as the most populous and a developing nation, China possesses great potential in export of seafaring skills, he said. In 2005, China sent 40,000 sailors abroad, far less than the Philippines, who sent 250,000 sailors abroad in the year.

"Besides, one seafarer can eradicate poverty of several families," Li said. According to him, the monthly income of a common senior seafarer is more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,250), almost ten times of the annual income per capita in inland China.

Efthimios Mitropoulos, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, sees the reform as an "acceptable experiment". He noted that the success of the reform is up to the government's compliance to the international standards and conventions in training the non-maritime majors.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2006)